


Opposition

by geekyjez



Series: Isii Lavellan [53]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Post-Trespasser, Trespasser - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 11:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4786055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekyjez/pseuds/geekyjez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A drabble set after the events of Trespasser. Isii is going to try and save Solas from himself. Until then, she is going to make herself a thorn in his side that he can't extract.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opposition

Isii could feel his presence well before she saw him. It was a strange sensation; an experience difficult to put into words and yet his essence seemed so much brighter in the Fade than it had been in years past. It radiated off of him like waves of energy, a tingle that left her skin buzzing when he did not wish to remain hidden from her.

And there was no part of him that was hiding now.

Solas stormed into the rotunda, the Fade rippling and warped where he pushed himself through into her dream. He paused for a moment, taking in his surroundings before his eyes fixed on her. His face was stern – lips drawn, brow lowered, his nose creased into a half-sneer.

Isii smiled pleasantly, crossing her legs as they rested casually against the arm of the rotunda’s couch. “Good evening, vhenan,” she greeted sweetly, a quiet bite lingering beneath her words. She gestured to the room around them with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Seems rather fitting that we would meet in here, doesn’t it? Almost makes me feel nostalgic. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in Skyhold.”

“You’re currently wandering Tevinter,” he said, a distinct flatness in his tone. “Though for what reason, I am uncertain.”

“Is that what your spies are telling you?” she asked. She studied him a moment, her smile broadening. “Good.” His eyes narrowed further. “I take it from your tone that you got my present?”

“Explosives?” His voice was sharp. Cutting. “Truly? Is that not a bit crass?”

“Crass, but obviously effective,” she said with a grin. “You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“Destroying Eluvians and the ruins that contain them? Is that now your goal?” he snapped. “Eradicating what precious little remains of Elvhenan? I would expect that from some shem, not from you.”

“Which is exactly why I did it,” she said, slowly pushing herself to her feet. “So you’d never see it coming.” She crossed over to his old desk, leaning her weight back against its edge. “You should have let me come with you, Solas,” she said flatly. “It would have made this much easier on both of us.”

“What? So you could tear apart my organization from the inside?” he sneered.

Her brows lifted. “You assume I’m not already doing so?”

He studied her for a moment, his lips drawing together tightly. “You’re bluffing.”

“If you say so,” she said with a shrug, crossing her arms.

“Why must you make this so difficult?” he hissed, closing the distance between them.

“I could ask the same of you.”

“This isn’t a game.”

“I didn’t say that it was.”

Solas pushed himself into her physical space, bracing his hands against the desk on either side of her, trapping her, forcing her to regard him fully. It was a quick motion, clearly angered, his eyes pushed into a sharp glare. She could feel the immensity of his power now, rippling against her skin like a concussive wave. “You do not want me as your enemy, Inquisitor,” he growled. His voice was low, chilling in a way he’d never used with her before.

There was no hint of fear in her expression as she studied his face. “So formal?” Isii asked calmly. “I must have truly angered you.” She nodded, the corner of her lips lifting. “Good. That means I’ve gotten under your armor a little.” She pushed back against the desk, lifting herself to sit on its edge as he continued to fume. “But I’m no one’s Inquisitor anymore, Fen’Harel. That title is just one of many things I left behind in Halamshiral,” she added, lifting her left hand. She moved her fingers through the air, studying them as she opened and closed her fist. “Do you suppose I’ll always dream I still have both of my arms? Or will I simply go to sleep one night to find it’s no longer there?”

His anger began to break, small cracks in his attempt to intimidate her betraying a much more mournful pain. She saw that subtle softening, pursuing it as she ran her hand along his jaw, stroking his cheek with her thumb. He clasped the phantom hand to his skin, holding her there as his eyes closed. “You have lost so much, Isii,” he said in a hushed whisper, his brow tensing. “Too much. Most of it is the result of my actions and I…” His voice caught and he paused, struggling to hold onto his well-practiced composure. “I do not want to see you suffer further. Please. Stop this. Live your life. Enjoy the rest of your time in peace-”

“What do you expect me to do, Solas?” she asked incredulously. “Sit back and wait for my vhenan to tear the world asunder? Were you not paying attention during the years we spent together trying to save the world? You know I won’t simply watch and do nothing – especially when it’s you I have to save.”

“You assume I need saving?”

“That’s not up for debate,” she said, shaking her head. He stared back at her and she brought her other hand up, cupping his jaw in her palms. “I don’t want to fight you, Solas. I want to help you.”

“By destroying all that remains of before?”

“By making you see that you’re making another mistake.” His eyes lowered, his resistance clearly painted across his features. “You’re grieving, vhenan. I understand that. But you are letting that blind you. It’s that same desperation that made you think the best course of action was to hand your orb over to a madman with the hopes he would blow himself up.” He glanced up at that, a fierce look in his eye, yet he made no objection. She tilted her head, tracing the hollows of his cheeks with her thumbs. “You know me, Solas,” she said softly. “I want to preserve the past, not destroy it. It pains me to do so, but I will continue as long as it slows you and your people down.” He did not resist as she drew him closer, pressing her brow to his own. “I never want to be your enemy, vhenan. Ar lath ma.”

“You truly shouldn’t.”

His words were quiet, hardly spoken, a confession barely given breath. Isii forced him to look into her face, her gaze softened with sorrow. “I love you,” she said firmly. “I will probably love you until the day I die. I’m just hoping you don’t make that day come any sooner than it has to.”

“Vhenan, I…” His throat grew tight and she watched him recede, his gaze lowering again as his resolve slipped back into place. “This is more important than either one of us. It has to be.”

“In all the time that we were together, did you ever see a future for us?”

He didn’t look up, but she could see the question thickened the words on his tongue. “I had hoped…” He cleared his throat. “What I wanted doesn’t matter,” he said firmly. “This is about what needs to be done.”

“You have so much potential, Fen’Harel,” she began. “There is so much you could do, so much you could give to this world. Can you truly not see that? You don’t heal one limb by cutting off another. You could restore so much of what’s been lost without having to wipe the slate clean.” She stopped, waiting for a response that never came. She knew she would not convince him now. Not like this. Convincing him to stop was not a task that could be accomplished in a single conversation, assuming it was even possible. Isii let out a slow breath, drawing her fingers beneath his chin, forcing him to look up. “Even with all of this…” she said, her eyes growing wet. “The insane thing is, it still feels good just to see you. To touch you-”

“I know,” he admitted, his tone defeated.

“When we’re here in the Fade…” She stopped, her voice wavering. “It’s just the two of us. Can we… Can we pretend, at least for a little while, that nothing else matters? At least until I wake?”

His eyes closed, fingers curling around her wrists. She leaned her brow to his again, gently nuzzling her nose against the side of his own. “I am so sorry, Isii.”

“If you’re truly sorry, then you’ll stop,” she whispered. “Maybe not today. But you will.”

“You know that I can’t, vhenan.”

She angled her chin, bringing her lips to his own in a slow, soft kiss. The gesture was bittersweet, burdened by grief and a barely-kept hope that things could be different. She would not give up on him, even if it killed both of them in the end.

At this point, she had nothing else to lose.

“Neither will I,” she murmured. “I will continue to fight for you, Fen’Harel,” she said, tightening her grip on him as her eyes closed. “Even if you don’t want me to.”


End file.
